New Delhi, May 05: On his way back to India, US ambassador to India Timothy J. Roemer stopped over in Pakistan to meet his counterpart in IIslamabad.
This visit was quite unusual, as the envoy announced his willingness to visit Afghanistan a few days ago, but he never mentioned his visit to Isalmabad.
The ambassador visited Afghanistan Monday and stopped in Pakistan for a day on his way back to India, a US embassy official said here Wednesday.
He refused to comment on speculation about his motives for visiting Pakistan. He visited these countries to have consultations with his counterparts in Kabul and Islamabad, the official said.
According to sources, Roemer visited some India-aided projects in Afghanistan. The timing of the visit, coming as it does days after the prime ministerial talks between India and Pakistan in Bhutan, has set off speculation in New Delhi and Islamabad.
According to Dawn, Pakistan’s leading daily, Roemer met Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. He discussed with Pakistani leaders a possible model of re-engagement between India and Pakistan after the Thimphu accord between the prime ministers of the two countries to resume talks, said the report.
US embassy officials declined to comment on the report.
The US has welcomed the re-engagement between India and Pakistan. India suspended dialogue with Pakistan after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks in which several Pakistani militants were involved.
—Agencies